June
23, 2005, the verdict came in around 1:45 pm PST: not guilty on all counts.

Before
I continue, I want to recount a human part of that day. In the delightful
movie, Hatari, with John Wayne and Red Buttons, whose character is known
as "Pockets," there is one particularly hilarious scene. Pockets builds
this rocket that supposedly will fly over this huge tree and trap all
the monkeys so they can round them up for shipment to zoos. The big day
comes, Pocket loads his rocket, hits the fire button and then hides behind
a tree and covers his eyes. He doesn't see a thing, but to everyone's
amazement, it works like a charm. Later that night, the cast of characters
celebrate with some adult libations and by then, Pockets is gassed to
the gills, asking John Wayne and others over and over - as he cries -
to tell him one more time how beautiful it was, how it worked. It was
quite funny.

On June
23, 2005 at about 1:30 pm, everyone, me, Connie, the defense team, Joe's
family (they were there in numbers to show their support to the jury)
- all of us were sitting up on the 14th floor of that New Age Federal
Court House frustrated to no end wondering what on earth was taking the
jury so long? Finally, I told Connie, "You want the jury to come in with
a verdict? No problem. I only live 15 minutes away. I'm going to go home
to let my dogs out and then come back. As soon as I leave, the jury will
come in." Connie said, "Don't hurry, it looks like we're going to be here
all afternoon." Guess what? I walked in my front door, gave my two pooches
kisses, put them outside for the wee wee call and the phone rang. It was
Connie with the good news that Joe was found not guilty on all counts.
Just like Pockets, I missed the finale!

I did,
however, see Jeff Dickstein within the hour and he conveyed to me the
details of the jury coming in, the decision and Joseph Banister walking
out of the court room a free man. The morning of June 24, 2005, I took
Sherry Jackson to the airport and she told me that after the verdict was
read, she and others were able to speak with some of the jurors. This
is Sherry's account of comments from two jurors regarding their deliberations
as spoken to Joe:

On the
second day they did a preliminary vote and 7 were for Joe and the others
were unsure. No one was really staunchly against Joe. The second viewing
of the Cencal videotape and the fact that the government has not answered
our questions was the thing that brought the two undecided jurors over.
When they watched the video they wondered why the prosecution even had
that video in evidence.
They were never really locked in combat against each other, they just
wanted to review all of the evidence and compare it to the judge's instructions
concerning the counts.
They had all heard of the "tax protest" movement before.
They were never afraid that if they acquitted Joe the IRS would come after
them.
They said they knew that Joe believed what he was saying and that a man
has the right to speak his beliefs without being prosecuted.
They were surprised that the government did not have real evidence.

That
is the ecstasy, but the agony - the persecution of Joseph Banister - is
not over.

The
federal government has been trying to get Joe Banister for years; the
history of this persecution and hounding can be found on his
web site. While Joe is a free man today, make no mistake about it:
this is a big, bloody nose for the IRS, their lawyers got their noses
rubbed in their incompetence and they will be back. I have known
Joe Banister for many years and a more honorable man with incredible courage
is difficult to find in this country. He is a patriot in true sense of
the word as was Thom Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale. But, he
has paid a terrible price for his courage and unwavering belief in the
truth and the rule of law. You will never see this man complain or
belly ache. He knew the path he chose to take would be the most difficult
for any man to walk, but walk it he has and God bless him and his family
who were there in that court room with love in their hearts for this kind,
gentle man.

Most
people have no concept or idea what happens in one of these major federal
cases. While I have no knowledge of the specific amount of money Joe's
defense cost, I know from other similar cases that a good legal team on
a federal tax case runs anywhere from $35,000-$50,000 - up front. I personally
wish to thank everyone who donated so generously to meet the necessary
funding for Joe's defense, but most people who get indicted like Joe,
simply don't have that kind of money. Besides the issue of trying to find
a King's ransom to defend themselves, then comes the months of agony for
the defendant wondering if he's living his last days as a free man. The
agony for his family and friends. I have been watching this go on for
fifteen years and it doesn't get any easier. After Vernie's acquittal,
the Feds came after her in a civil action and are taking what's left.
If they can't get you in criminal court, they will get you in civil court.
What is happening in America today is a slap in the face to those who
birthed this Republic and our nation's greatest enemy is the American
people, both for their apathy and their fatal blind loyalty to their political
party, forsaking the truth and what's right for federal "bacon" from their
party.

For
Judge William Schubb, the federal prosecutors and treasury agents - I
have nothing but contempt for these people who will do anything for their
cushy, safe paychecks. These people aren't that stupid and they can read.
You can't tell me they don't smell something fishy, but they have neither
the guts nor the courage to say this is a lie and walk away. Instead,
their greedy, grubby little hands snatch paychecks funded by you and me
and go about their daily mission of trying to shut out the truth, continue
lying to the American people and trying to put honorable, decent Americans
like Joe Banister in a 6' x 9' cage.

I feel
compelled to try and clarify the misunderstandings that circulate following
one of these cases. When Vernie
Kuglin was acquitted, my mail box was full of e-mails proclaiming
"This is the end of the IRS!!!!!" Nothing was further from the truth as
time has proven. People did not understand that Vernie's trial did
not challenge the law, it was a reliance defense case: the jury believed
(rightly so) that Vernie took the actions she did because she believed
in her heart that she was doing the right thing.

As soon
as Joe's acquittal hit the Net, one organization known as the P.T. Barnum
of the tax movement, sent out a thinly disguised pitch for donations using
the the Banister case which reads:

"Former
IRS CID Special Agent Joseph Banister Acquitted of Tax Fraud And Conspiracy
- Government Unable To Prove U.S. Law Requires Income Tax Withholding
or Filing"

This
is grossly misleading. Joe's trial was not about any challenge of
the income tax or withholding laws. The government charged Joe Banister
with the counts listed in Part I. The entire case was tied to Al Thompson's
indictment. The government accused Joe of conspiring to defraud the government
over the preparation of tax returns for Thompson's company, filing false
returns (read the full indictment). Joe's excellent defense team and those
in the court room understood the issue of free speech, protected political
speech and what constitutes a conspiracy. The jury had to decide if Joe
Banister knowingly and willfully set out, in cahoots with Al Thompson,
to defraud the government, to impede the collection of taxes, did they
knowingly file false returns (proven this was not the case) and was Joe
guilty of assisting in the preparation of filing false returns (read the
charges).

The
jury did not know about Al Thompson's conviction or sentencing because
it would be too prejudicial. They had to consider if Joe was guilty of
the charges set forth and they had to carefully consider the jury instructions,
which they did. To tout that the "government was unable to prove U.S.
law requires income tax withholding or filing" is outright misleading
at the very least, but sounds good to pitch for more donations. The hucksters
will be busy the next few weeks picking the pockets of the gullible who
believe such misleading headlines. Joe was acquitted because the jury
could clearly see that Joe's sincere intentions absolutely did not constitute
an effort to defraud or impede the government's collection of taxes or
meet the threshold of guilt on the other charges in the indictment and
that Joe did not knowingly file false tax returns on behalf of Al Thompson.

As a
result of this organization mentioned above posting such a misrepresentation
of the actual facts of the case, I received the following e-mail as a
cc: "Dear Allen, Based on the findings of the jury in the Bannister case
would ADF consider petitioning the courts to give the Indianapolis Baptist
Temple their property back? Its my understanding that there is no statute
of limitations on fraud. Please advise. Dr. Greg Dixon, Pastor Emeritus,
On behalf of Pastor Greg A. Dixon and the IBT congregation"

So,
you see? People's hopes get raised over some organization that sends out
a misleading headline that spreads like wildfire, but in the end, has
no basis in reality regarding the Banister trial, the same as what happened
after Vernie Kuglin's trial. It wasn't the end of the IRS after Vernie's
acquittal and it won't be as a result of the verdict in Joe's case.

The
issue of petitioning the government came up with evidence demonstrating
that Joe had participated in a steady, concentrated effort to petition
Congress and various IRS officials to answer questions about the tax laws.
However, and this is important: to my knowledge, no one's First Amendment
rights to petition the government regarding income tax issues has been
impeded or denied. Every American has the right to petition Congress and
millions have on the income tax issue. But, Congress has their own
set of written rules and they can answer any way they want (or not
answer) until the cows come home. They will say they have answered people's
petitions and questions and that the courts have ruled (for their masters)
on this issue. The petitioners respond that they don't get the answer
they want (the truth) and so it goes back and forth like a tennis match.

I don't
like this any more than you, but as I said, Congress has their written
rules made by them. Members of Congress do accept petitions and
become "sponsors" of those petititons, but it isn't going to happen on
the income tax - not with this current Congress because they need to keep
feeding the privately owned central bank so they can continue funding
a trillion dollars in social welfare programs, throwing tens of billions
to foreign countries and to funding unconstitutional wars. It's a no brainer
that we need to clean out Congress, but at the same time, we need to get
our fellow Americans to understand the money trail. Once they discover
that their "income tax dollars" don't fund the limited functions of the
government, that is when they come to the side of truth and get steamed.

The
federal jails are full of people who are so desperate they will believe
anything from guru's in the tax movement. Al Thompson believed the nonsense
about "names
in caps" and look where it got him. Everyone is sick and tired and
fed up with the lies and silence out of this government from one administration
to the next. We all want this fraud to stop, but that isn't going to happen
until a large enough percentage of the population fully understand
and comprehend the nexus between the income tax and the central bank.
The toll in human carnage (broken marriages, bankrupted individuals, etc)
will only continue until Americans unify, get on the same sheet of music
and create a wind of such force, we will see change.

I urge
everyone (if you haven't already) to read Why
An Income Tax is Not Necessary to Fund the Federal Government.
And, please order Joe Banister's 90+
page report he submitted to his superiors. Joe has done a superior
job in laying it all out for everyone to understand. Read it and give
it to someone who does want the truth about where their tax dollars go
and let us get this truth out to thousands and millions. Remember: We
are the wind. Live it. Believe it. Stay the course.

Devvy Kidd authored the booklets, Why A Bankrupt
America and Blind Loyalty, which sold close to 2,000,000 copies. Devvy
appears on radio shows all over the country, ran for Congress and is a
highly sought after public speaker. Get a free copy of Why A Bankrupt
America from El Dorado Gold.
Devvy is a contributing writer for www.NewsWithViews.com.

Most
people have no concept or idea what happens in one of these major federal
cases. While I have no knowledge of the specific amount of money Joe's
defense cost, I know from other similar cases that a good legal team on
a federal tax case runs anywhere from $35,000-$50,000 - up front.